Port Authority Official Fired After Vulgar Comments Appear on Gawker

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey fired an employee from its real estate division — formerly a member of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration – after a post on the website Gawker described him as “inebriated” and using offensive language at a Fashion Week party in Manhattan earlier this week.

The employee, Brandon Brice, was hired April 16 as a property representative in the Port Authority’s Real Estate Services department, according to payroll records available on the authority’s website. According to a biography posted on his personal website, Brice previously worked as Director of Education and African American Affairs for the Christie administration.

In the Gawker article, Brice is described introducing himself to the author as representing “the office of Chris Christie” and using a vulgar term for female anatomy. The first person account, by Gawker writer Caity Weaver, describes Brice approaching the author and a friend at a Fashion Week party for OK! Magazine in the West Village. After Brice mentioned his connection to Christie, suggesting he was still employed by the administration, Weaver wrote, she asked why the governor would have sent a representative to the party.